Vice chief digital officer departs under misconduct cloud

Vice Media has confirmed that its chief digital officer is no longer working for the company amidst accusations of sexual misconduct made public in a New York Times article from last December.

Vice chief digital officer departs under misconduct cloud

Mike Germano had been suspended pending an investigation into the veracity of those accusations but has now left the company for good, according to a spokesman for Vice.

Germano’s departure comes amidst a wider shake-up at Vice which is in process of merging its internal agencies; including the folding of digital specialists Carrot Creative, which had been led by Germano, into creative agency Virtue Worldwide.

In a statement Virtue president Ryan Mack wrote: “In a time when digital should be at the core of all agencies rather than a specialised focus, it’s an exciting and natural next step for us as we round out Virtue’s creative and strategic offerings with Carrot’s social, analytics and tech.”

Vice found itself under pressure to act after several clients declared that they would review their association with the company in the wake of the scandal, with the likes of Ally Financial and Unilever fearing they could be tarnished by association.

Those pressures have seen Vice introduce mandatory anti-harrassment training and boost its human resources department in a bid to improve its workplace culture.

Vice president Andrew Creighton, named in the Times article alongside Germano, took a voluntary leave of absence earlier this year and remains subject to a company investigation.